At-Tawbah 19: (Oh idolaters!) Did you equate giving water to the pilgrims and renovating the Masjid al-Haram to the belief of those, who believe in Allah, in the hereafter and who fight on the path of Allah? Nations that continue with oppression will not attain Allah’s guidance.

A. Metin Saruhan · 21 February 2022 · Misinterpreted Verses

The misinterpretation

Do you equate repairing the Masjid al-Haram with the faith of those who believe in Allah and the Last Day and strive in the way of Allah? However, they are not equal in the sight of Allah. Allah does not guide the wrongdoers.

The right translation

(Oh idolaters!) Did you equate giving water to the pilgrims and renovating the Masjid al-Haram to the belief of those, who believe in Allah, in the hereafter and who fight on the path of Allah? Nations that continue with oppression will not attain Allah’s guidance.

Explanation

This is where this verse goes wrong: Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people. The truth is: The people who continue in their oppression will not attain the guidance of Allah.

Are there not those who are guided among the community of wrongdoers? It is full. Is this not an attribute of our Lord? As we said, the verses of the Qur'an have been opened in a contradictory way because of their incomplete and incorrect opening.

When they opened the verses, they opened them incorrectly because they could not comprehend Verse 172 of Surah A'râf. Those who are not aware of the covenant between people and Allah (swt) have evaluated people based on their current situation. However, people are guided when they realize that their ways are wrong after their current situation, repent and enter the religion of Islam.

The roots of the wrong opening of the verses are that they have opened them wrongly because they do not know the meaning of the 172nd verse of Surah A'râf. Our Lord's doors of repentance are open. If those who are outside the religion of Islam die without repenting, they will go to the Hereafter without faith and without guidance. But the door of repentance is open until the end of life. If they repent, they will go to the Hereafter as Muslims.

Our Lord has collected the origin of falsehood in the 172nd Verse of Surah A'râf for the removal of falsehood from the religion of Islam. When this Verse is realized, many branches of falsehood end with this Verse. In this case, those who know this Verse and are enemies of the religion of Islam have tried to throw falsehood on the religion of Islam by defining this Verse as follows. This verse talks about fate. If you try to explain this verse, you become a fatalist. If you go a little further, you will become a Mu'tazilite and leave the religion. In this case, those who were ignorant of the meaning of this verse, when they opened the verses of the Qur'an, they opened the verses by contradicting each other and attributing shortcomings to our Lord.

What is destiny? First of all, we need to know about destiny. Destiny is when people make a covenant with our Lord and our Lord gives them exactly what they asked for. It is also an event that takes place between the covenanting person and our Lord. It is our Lord giving them the characters to live out that person's desire. In this case, it is only our Lord who knows the destiny of people. Our Lord knows what will happen to people in life in the face of their desires and wishes. We live unaware of what will happen to us in the next moment. The times we live in are our living our destiny. But we do not know what will happen to us in the future and how we will live. This is not talking about destiny.

What is said in the video

In verse 19: O polytheists! Giving water to the pilgrims and tending the Masjid al-Haram – with the faith of those who believe in Allah and the Last believe in the Day of Judgement and strive in the way of Allah do you hold yourselves equal?

Yet they are not equal in the sight of Allah. Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people, it says. He does not guide them if they go on in that state. Of course. Now here it ascribes this to Allah Almighty as an attribute. What does it say? Allah does not guide the wrongdoing people. Now here, whom do they call a wrongdoer, it says? They say it to the Prophet (peace be upon him). They ask: whom do we call a wrongdoer? A father who discriminates among his children is a wrongdoer too, he says. Well now, if a Muslim is a wrongdoer too, what does it say here? Allah does not guide them, it says. He does not guide the wrongdoing people.

Yet what do you understand? You understand that He does not guide the unbelievers. Even taken this way, you understand it wrongly. Taken the other way too, you understand it wrongly. Is there no one among the wrongdoing people who attains Allah's guidance? Bishr al-Hafi never used to leave the tavern. (?) he goes about. Yes. Wasn't he a wrongdoer? He acts against Allah's verses, he drinks liquor. In this case, as long as that wrongdoing people continues in that state – look, again by their own will – as long as that wrongdoing people continues in that state, it cannot attain Allah's guidance. If it turns back, it attains His guidance.

They have translated the verses wrongly all along.

So people got scared, ran away, did who knows what; they don't even read it. Yes.